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In table top rules there are certain location on a hex map and in 3d terrain rules where a mech cannot shoot directly behind it, as such mechs with no lower arm actuators can flip their arms to shoot behind them otherwise they have a blind spot which is where the rear facing weapons come in.

As for building mechs, most people use mech factory. however i am still a stalwart fan of the official (under FASA) heavy metal pro program. with the updates it allows you to both build any mech up to 100 toms as well as infantry, protomechs, vehicles, aerospace etc...it also has all the mech force UK official (from FASA) variants. it also has all sorts of options that can be on your mech sheet-expanded heat scale, movement mods, hit locations, missile cluster tables etc...

 aphyon wrote:
In table top rules there are certain location on a hex map and in 3d terrain rules where a mech cannot shoot directly behind it, as such mechs with no lower arm actuators can flip their arms to shoot behind them otherwise they have a blind spot which is where the rear facing weapons come in.

As a side note, one Arm can generally shoot in to the Rear Arc so long as you Torso Twist in their direction.

 aphyon wrote:
As for building mechs, most people use mech factory. however i am still a stalwart fan of the official (under FASA) heavy metal pro program. with the updates it allows you to both build any mech up to 100 toms as well as infantry, protomechs, vehicles, aerospace etc...it also has all the mech force UK official (from FASA) variants. it also has all sorts of options that can be on your mech sheet-expanded heat scale, movement mods, hit locations, missile cluster tables etc...

CGL uses MegaMekLab to print out the Record Sheets you can download from Battletech Downloads now. FYI. It also offers a few options for adding reference charts to each sheet. I've also set mine up so that the central image is replaced with a GATOR chart.

If you look at the rules for hex maps there is a "magic hex" like 3 or 4 directly behind a mech the arms cannot hit even with a full toros twist.

 aphyon wrote:
If you look at the rules for hex maps there is a "magic hex" like 3 or 4 directly behind a mech the arms cannot hit even with a full toros twist.

It is often difficult to get in to, and doesn't guarantee a Rear shot on the target. Hence the Arm can "generally" hit in the Rear Arc with a Torso Twist. In addition, if one Twists the other way, the other Arm can generally engage it.

couple fun ones today-

did the fist game of the night for battle tech with an all marauder chassi lance
.marauder II
.marauder
.night star
.dragon fire

I was fighting-
.atlas
.stalker
.archer
.axeman

The dice gods were not with me on this one, missed so many shots that i should have hit, still a fun game though, break point was when my mostly undamaged nightstar took an axe hit to the face.



Game 2 was a bit more silly-Steiner scout squad style-


I ran my 3 grand dragon variants and an atlas VS 4 atlas



With a C3 network and a mod of 3+ most of the time i was a hard target to hit so i was doing better than expected-






I even got to do some dragon bowling- a 7K with mask doing a ram attack from behind taking out an atlas-

A frined of mine forgot his battle tech stuff so i loaned him some of my clanners so we could get a game in.

We did a standard 3060+ 2 lance VS 1 star battle.

It was my fist game with my new devastator.

The clan side-
.tomahawk II
.osteon
.blood kite
.cauldron born
.storm crow.

My side-

Lance 1
.marauder 4l
.devestator
.night star
.gunslinger

Lance 2-vehicle lance
.X2 typhoon urban assault vehicles.
.challenger MK XI
.challenger MK XII


I lost this one but i managed to take him down to 2 mechs, just the tomahawk and the storm crow. i got a crit pilot kill on the blood kite and the devastator took an AC20 to the face. those were the only 2 head cap kills.

Got 2 games in tonight-

the first was a second swords of light VS the crucius lancers-a little Davion/Kurita border fight.

I was running some odd mechs i normally don't run-

An LBX 10 shadow hawk, a sniper warhammer, a clan equipped sunder, and the MWO laser "jester" hero mech.


My opponent brough the RAC centurion, dervish, warhammer and the LBX 10 saggitaire.



The most epic thing happened at the end. i kicked his last mech with the shadow hawk ( was down to 2 mechs myself by this point), he failed his pilot skill check and fell, critting his center torso rear 4 times.....





My second game i ran a C3 MRM themed kurita lance-shugenja, daikyu, catapult, crusader teaming up with a comstar light force-mongoose, phoenix hawk, uziel, nightsky.

We faced off against a warhawk, nova cat, timber wolf, summoner, proto mechs.
since i was the easier (read slower) target i took the brunt of the damage. loosing both the crusader and the shugenja with the remaining 2 mechs both being badly mauled, my ally lost the mongoose. the clanners gave up after their 2 remaining mechs (timber wolf and summoner) failed pilot checks and fell.

I didn’t realize the dropships were add-ons for the Mercs KS or I would’ve added some.

Regardless they are now available from CGL. I ordered two Unions and one each of the Overlords thanks to the 25% off sale (as well as two more half-priced Essentials sets).

Anyone else getting any? or already have some?

I have a couple locals that have them. One added them as add-ons, the other got the Big K.

Pretty cool models. I wish I had the money as there is an upcoming campaign scenario I could definitely use them.

Does the "Battletech Master Unit List" site normally throw an error about its security certificate?

Also, how would y'all split the mechs from the 8 model starter box to play?

Yes, It constantly gives the security warning, and has for about two or three years that I know of. Every time I save Alpha Strike cards as .jpg's, I have to click a "download blocked" warning away for the download to happen, which is annoying, but harmless.

Nobody I know of has ever had a virus problem because of it, it's just something the site owners keep forgetting to update.

Does anybody know of a good source to look for what CCAF infantry uniforms look like? Sarna is not of great help here, unless I'm not looking in the right place.

 BrookM wrote:
Does anybody know of a good source to look for what CCAF infantry uniforms look like? Sarna is not of great help here, unless I'm not looking in the right place.

Have you tried Camo Specs yet? They have some decent infantry paint jobs for every fa tion you can think of.

Also, I asked the AI...

In the BattleTech universe, the CCAF (Capellan Confederation Armed Forces) infantry uniforms are in shades of green, gray, or black, often with red or gold accents, which are colors associated with the Capellan Confederation.

 BrookM wrote:
Does anybody know of a good source to look for what CCAF infantry uniforms look like? Sarna is not of great help here, unless I'm not looking in the right place.

They do have the books to look in to under the CCAF page, namely: Field Manual: Capellan Confederation and Handbook: House Liao.

CGL has restarted their Force Manual series with Davion and Kurita. Mercenaries is next, but they do plan on filling out the rest of the Houses eventually. At the rate they're going, they should have Force Manual: Liao out before next Christmas, if not much sooner.

 Charistoph wrote:

 BrookM wrote:
Does anybody know of a good source to look for what CCAF infantry uniforms look like? Sarna is not of great help here, unless I'm not looking in the right place.

They do have the books to look in to under the CCAF page, namely: Field Manual: Capellan Confederation and Handbook: House Liao.

CGL has restarted their Force Manual series with Davion and Kurita. Mercenaries is next, but they do plan on filling out the rest of the Houses eventually. At the rate they're going, they should have Force Manual: Liao out before next Christmas, if not much sooner.

Remember that Force Manual: Kurita and Force Manual: Mercenaries were adapted in large from the appropriate Combat Manuals. Therefore, new Force Manuals will take more time to write and publish as there's no existing Combat Manuals to draw from.

 Ghaz wrote:

 Charistoph wrote:

 BrookM wrote:
Does anybody know of a good source to look for what CCAF infantry uniforms look like? Sarna is not of great help here, unless I'm not looking in the right place.

They do have the books to look in to under the CCAF page, namely: Field Manual: Capellan Confederation and Handbook: House Liao.

CGL has restarted their Force Manual series with Davion and Kurita. Mercenaries is next, but they do plan on filling out the rest of the Houses eventually. At the rate they're going, they should have Force Manual: Liao out before next Christmas, if not much sooner.

Remember that Force Manual: Kurita and Force Manual: Mercenaries were adapted in large from the appropriate Combat Manuals. Therefore, new Force Manuals will take more time to write and publish as there's no existing Combat Manuals to draw from.

And the Combat Manuals were drawn from the previous Field Manuals and Handbooks. Most of the differences are layouts and adding in the Force Command Abilities, and maybe a new character along with the Special Pilot Abilities.

 Charistoph wrote:

 Ghaz wrote:

 Charistoph wrote:

 BrookM wrote:
Does anybody know of a good source to look for what CCAF infantry uniforms look like? Sarna is not of great help here, unless I'm not looking in the right place.

They do have the books to look in to under the CCAF page, namely: Field Manual: Capellan Confederation and Handbook: House Liao.

CGL has restarted their Force Manual series with Davion and Kurita. Mercenaries is next, but they do plan on filling out the rest of the Houses eventually. At the rate they're going, they should have Force Manual: Liao out before next Christmas, if not much sooner.

Remember that Force Manual: Kurita and Force Manual: Mercenaries were adapted in large from the appropriate Combat Manuals. Therefore, new Force Manuals will take more time to write and publish as there's no existing Combat Manuals to draw from.

And the Combat Manuals were drawn from the previous Field Manuals and Handbooks. Most of the differences are layouts and adding in the Force Command Abilities, and maybe a new character along with the Special Pilot Abilities.

The Force Manuals have more in common with the Combat Manuals than they do with the Field Manuals. Comparing the three, the Force Manuals and Combat Manuals are nearly identical.

 Ghaz wrote:

The Force Manuals have more in common with the Combat Manuals than they do with the Field Manuals. Comparing the three, the Force Manuals and Combat Manuals are nearly identical.

Well, yeah. The Combat Manuals are the more recent of the two. Yet the Field Manuals still had the story of the faction development, and the organization of the military within them, and even guidelines on how they operated at certain points.

Running a Jade Falcon campaign, I've had to dive in to both Field Manual: JF and Field Manual: Lyran Alliance for scenarios and how the OpFor fights. I'm basically making my own psuedo-Force Manual: Steiner as I go as a result. The Combat Manual: Mercenaries has helped for a scenario or two so far (we're only starting Wave 2 the 2nd Friday in January).

Comparing them to the Force Manual: Kurita someone gave me for Christmas, the biggest difference is, as I said, the layout and the inclusion of Force Command Abilities and Special Pilot Abilities that simply didn't exist in the 90s when the Field Manuals were written.

Sure some things are left out for brevity and other things added in, but that still doesn't change that the Force Manual is the updated Field Manual.

And there was no Combat Manual: Liao (the original request), only Kurita and Mercenaries.

Just looking for colour plates or guides for Cappie infantry uniforms, not entire books. 😅

The Field Manuel for the Capellan Confederation says the standard infantry are issued dark green fatigues "trimmed in Liao green along the shoulders and the seam from underarm to ankles." But none of the color plates in the book are for infantry, so it's hard to say what, exactly, 'dark' green and 'Liao' green actually are.

 BrookM wrote:
Just looking for colour plates or guides for Cappie infantry uniforms, not entire books. 😅

The books are where that information would be found, though...

Played a pair of beginner level games today, my mate was available so we figured why not?

My opponent claimed her beloved Wolverine again, while I took the Griffin for our first game, which ended in my defeat, oh well.



The second game I got to take my Archer out for a spin, after nattering on about how much I loved using it in MW5 and well, I won, but damn that Wolverine just kept taking it on the chin, in the end tenaciously cutting away at me with just the head-mounted laser, because IT. WOULD. NOT. DIE. Also, a lucky AC/5 hit to the cockpit as she made her advance on me (I figured hiding in heavy forest terrain would keep me safe, nope!) was a nasty wake-up call and a reminder that GM makes a damned fine autocannon.







Looks like I'll have to paint up a custom Archer at some point now.

Just be happy it wasn't a Pontiac 1000 autocannon.

Quick one today, end of the night battle tech game-jihad era clan hells horse VS lyran guards-

My side-
.thunder stallion 4
.doom courser
.stalking spider
.heimdall/mars
.Svartalfa protomechs

his side-

.lance 1-
.thunderhawk
.maruader
.night star
.archer

Lance 2
.atlas
.axe man
.bushwhacker
.goliath.

He got lucky through armor criticals and killed my doom courser and my heimdall, both of which were basically untouched. with an engine kill and crew kill results.

I overheated and blew up the stalking spider my self (dang 3 on a 4+ ammo explode avoid roll). by that point i had pretty well mauled him with only his bushwhacker and archer facing my thunder stallion and 4 protomechs.

the archer blew up with an ammo crit and killed the bushwacker, after taking off a leg on my stallion.

MVP went to the protomechs for getting in there and mauling any mech they could get close to. i hardly missed with them the entire game.

Is the Wolverine a zombie mech, or just that tenacious when paired with my dodgy dice rolls? Hunchback 4G is also scary, it was a lot of fun to try and wreck, but damn, it did its job of walking up to me, taking everything I got and shooting me in the face perfectly, it really does feel like a heavy mech in medium format.

Question, with the Merc KS stuff slowly out in the open now, did they say when the record sheets for the new mechs and vehicles would be put online? Or are the support vehicles used through the enclosed support cards? My mercs boxed set is still a few weeks away from getting here, so sorry if that's answered there. But any word on the new mech sheets? Because there's a Charger incoming, I am going to do so many stupid, stupid things with that one.

Final bit of waffle, the support weapon the left-most mini is holding, what would be the most BattleTech appropriate kind of weapon to use it as?



Got a crapton of these models and they are generic enough for this setting, so going to turn them into whatever the bottom rung is of the CCAF structure, armed servitors?

Plasma rifles appear to be a thing

https://www.sarna.net/wiki/Man-Portable_Plasma_Rifle_(Support_Weapon)

Dakka doesn't like brackets in links and tends to ignore the last bracket (quote my post to see the workaround).

 Flinty wrote:
Plasma rifles appear to be a thing

https://www.sarna.net/wiki/Man-Portable_Plasma_Rifle_(Support_Weapon)

Ooh thanks, bonus pretzel for it being a CCAF thing to boot! 🤘🏻

Played another pair of IntroTech games yesterday, SLDF versus DCMS, where we each had two mechs and were more or less in the BV range. Not even sure if this was a historical accurate fight haha, but fluff it.

I played the mighty SLDF with Griffin and Rifleman, while my opponent had her beloved Wolverine backed up by a Hunchback.

The first game was a win for me, I landed with a lot of my shots, but as luck(?) would have it, it took forever to take them both down! Saving grace was the poor rolls the AC20 made, I'm sure there's a meme in there somewhere from the community.



And the second game, which ended in a tie, as the Hunchback and Rifleman destroyed one another in the last turn. If the AC20 hadn't missed so often at close range it would've gone differently for me for sure.



Fun was had, revenge has been sworn

I've finished up painting some Christmas gifts and secured Salvage.

First off McCarron's Armored Assault Lance. 2 units in Cormodir Corsairs (local campaign unit), Brown Pants Legion (personal Merc scheme), Fetid Claws (personal Wobbie scheme).

And 2 Blisters and an LE Salvage box, all done in Coromodir Corsair colors.